Certainly Unexpected
by Colimbina
Summary: JackWill SLASH. Will and Elizabeth aren’t as well suited as they had thought. Capitan Jack Sparrow to the rescue, or at least something vaguely resembling rescue.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Certainly Unexpected  
  
Author: Colimbina  
  
Rating: PG-13 to begin with, ultimately NC-17 for wild pirate sex and rampant debauchery. (Will be censored for ff.net)   
  
Disclaimer: All characters are property of Disney, except for Capitan Jack Sparrow, who refuses to be owned by anyone beyond himself.   
  
Pairing: Jack/Will, mention of Will/Elizabeth  
  
Archiving: Ask first or die.   
  
Summary: Mainly a character study focusing on Jack and the possibility of Jack and Will's relationship. Very little plot—just some vague ideas for now, but may advance to something developed and sentient in time. We can all hope.   
  
Feedback: Appreciated, especially constructive criticism. But honestly I would rather you spend your time writing good fic. This has the potential to be a great fandom if we keep in alive.   
  
******  
  
  
  
William hadn't been a man of great instinct until he met Captain Jack Sparrow. There were a lot of things William hadn't been until he met Jack, actually, but as he and Elizabeth watched the man sail toward the horizon on his beloved ship, for the first time in his life Will felt that something was off. His blood was still singing from the escape—it had been like nothing he'd ever felt before, battling at Jack's side, each knowing exactly where the other was and what they were about to do. Now, standing next to the woman he loved and watching the other man sail away, Will felt he'd miss-stepped and the folly would lose him something critical.  
  
"Will," Elizabeth whispered close to his ear when the Black Pearl was reduced to a dark spot quickly blending with the horizon. "I love you, too, Will," she said. Will tried to smile genuinely, remembering how he had longed to hear those words, trying to summon that warmth that had come so easily when he had dared to imagine them, but the unsettled feeling was growing stronger as the ship faded and he couldn't understand why.  
  
"Will, darling, are you alright?" Elizabeth asked, now sounding genuinely worried.   
  
The Black Pearl vanished completely.  
  
He finally turned to Elizabeth, smiled as well as he could, and pulled her close. "Of course, I'm… wonderful."  
  
When he returned after four weeks at sea working as a privateer—the governor's daughter could hardly be engaged to a true pirate—his fiancé greeted him with nothing warmer than ice. In public that day she was cold and stoic, mechanically polite as a lady of her standing must be in company, but that afternoon when they found a moment to themselves, the ice melted instantly.  
  
Will ducked as pottery was hurled at his head with great precision.  
  
"Elizabeth!" he said.  
  
"William! You left me here, alone, for a /month/, William! All I've had to do was stare out the window and pine for you like some… some… sailor's wife!"  
  
She threw a powder jar, which exploded on impact and covered Will's chest in dust.  
  
"I don't understand, Elizabeth," he said with a touch of panic and dodged something else, "I thought you wanted me to be a pirate—privateer."  
  
"I wanted!—" she paused, eyes flashing, hand poised to throw a heavy silver hairbrush. She let out a growl of frustration, put the brush down, and marched over until they were nose to nose. "You will /not/ leave me behind again, William Turner," she said fiercely and marched out of the room.  
  
The next time he left port, she came along. Her father had forbid it, of course, despite the pleas from both Elizabeth and Will—as had Commodore Norrington, who had commissioned the journey. Will had naively thought she had given up on it. Elizabeth, hardly being one to forfeit adventure so easily, had stowed away with the provisions. Will had to barter away a quarter of his share of loot and remind the crew very forcefully that she was Elizabeth /Swann/, only daughter of the governor, to convince the crew not to throw her overboard the moment she was discovered. Even with that he had fallen out of favor with the crew, having broken the Articles, and was made to do all the worst jobs and take all the worst shifts.  
  
On Elizabeth's part, she learned that not all adventures on the high sea were terribly adventurous. Her first one had lasted less than a week during which she had been kidnapped, marooned on an island, propositioned by cursed undead pirates (along with a cursed, undead pirate monkey,) saved multiple lives multiple times, and began her romantic relationship with her fiancé. This second voyage mostly consisted of sitting and waiting. The boat was old and slower than any she had ever been on, so there days of inaction between the raids, and when those did come around, the crew locked her in one of the cabins despite her kicking, screaming, and scornful looks to Will. They let her out for the celebration afterward, but being the only female on the ship, she was more want to lock herself back in the cabin. The salty air made her skin constantly itch, and a diet of hardtack and grog did little for seasickness. When they finally returned to Port Royal, she was desperate for her life of fine lace dresses and meals that consisted of more than stale bread and very bad alcohol.  
  
William hadn't faired any better on that voyage, having to deal with both the taunts of the crew over his /Missus/, and scorn from said Missus for taking her along on the wretched trip. Afterward William had virtually locked himself in the smith, putting all his conflicting emotions into beautiful blades. He did not hear from Elizabeth for weeks, having secluded herself in her father's mansion, and he thought better than to approach her for… well, as long as he could avoid it.  
  
It stopped being an option when, one day at dawn, a messenger delivered an invitation to his own wedding scheduled two weeks from that day. He went to the mansion as quickly as he could, still covered in filth from doing little else than working at the forge for weeks.  
  
"Oh, William, you're filthy," Elizabeth greeted cheerfully and kissed the air near his cheek. "Come, let's get you cleaned. You need to be fitted for your gown as soon as possible."  
  
He was dragged into the bath room, stripped, and bathed by two servants despite a great deal of protest and blushing on his part. Elizabeth stood behind a screen the entire time, speaking matter-of-factly about the wedding and their future plans, most of which were a surprise to William.  
  
"You're going to buy me a forge?" He said.  
  
"Yes, daddy decided to include it in the dowry. Your talent with blades is too good to waste, and you can hardly be Master Brown's apprentice your entire life, can you? You'll get your own shop, with the best equipment available. You'll be world-renound for your work!"  
  
"That's—" he said, picturing his life anchored in a shop overlooking fleets of ships that he wouldn't be on. One of the servants scrubbed restlessly at his scalp, trying to get all the dirt out. "Great…"  
  
"Is anything the matter, dear?" she asked.  
  
"Of course not," he said, trying to sound anything other than desolate.  
  
She went on to talk about the plans for the wedding. It would be a huge ceremony, nearly the entire town attending. Will imagined it vast and bright and clean, and the wrongness he had been feeling since he watched the Black Pearl sail away increased, churned around his stomach while the maids rinsed him off one last time.  
  
He stood through the fittings by day and worked on swords at night, dread building silently, so vast and encompassing he struggled to muster any emotion beyond blankness. The swords he made were possibly the worst since he had begun his training. His wedding gown was… elaborate. It was possibly more expensive than everything he had ever owned combined, layers of fine cloth and lace, all creamy white. The hat was nice, though, gigantic with an unnecessarily large plume. More than once he thought about a particular pirate that would quite like the monstrosity, and the thought seemed to be the only thing that could make him smile anymore.  
  
The sun was setting when he left the governor's mansion the night before the wedding. He hadn't seen much of Elizabeth lately, her being to busy with the wedding preparations, but that night she met him at the door before he left. She felt so fragile in his arms, and when she kissed him all he felt was the heavy weight in his stomach.  
  
"I love you, William," she said.  
  
"I love you, Elizabeth," he said, and felt awful.  
  
He walked home slowly, watching the sun set over the water. This would be the last night he would spend in his childhood home, curled up on the hard but familiar apprentice's cot in the blacksmith's storage room. He would move into the mansion and sleep in a fine bed, eat fine meals, and wear fine clothes. He would be married to the woman he had loved for as long as he could remember, and he would be /happy/. Surely.  
  
He was so absorbed in these thoughts that at first nothing seemed amiss in the smith. Only when he situated himself in front of the forge did anything seem wrong. He frowned and looked around, and noticed… a hat. A familiar hat perched on his anvil like the first time he had ever glimpsed it. He reached for it, thinking it was a mirage brought on by stress or possibly the peculiar soup he had been served for dinner, but his fingers brushed worn leather, sure enough.   
  
A sword came down and rapped his knuckles smartly.  
  
His eyes followed the blade up slowly, stomach fluttering with something other than dread now, something far more exciting, and he met familiar kohl-lined eyes. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Jack?" Will said, disbelieving.  
  
"Hello, Young William," Jack crooned and bowed slightly, "lovely to see you again."  
  
"Jack, I. How—you—why—" Jack grinned and tilted his head back, gazing at Will though half-lidded eyes. Will paused a moment and gathered enough thought to form a complete sentence. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I've recently found myself in the market for a new blade," Jack said, "and who better to provide me with one than the best blacksmith in the Caribbean?"  
  
Will glanced at the sword drooping lazily at Jack's side and saw that it was indeed one of his better creations. "Were you planning on informing me of this acquisition, or simply 'borrowing it without permission' and running?  
  
The pirate sniffed, hefted the cutlass, and began inspecting it, making it obvious he wasn't going to dignify that with a response. Will felt elated by Jack's presence, a mixture of amusement and annoyance that only came in Capitan Jack Sparrow's company, so he let the issue slide. Instead he said, "I didn't see the Pearl in the harbor. You haven't lost it again, have you?"  
  
Eyes flashed briefly up from their inspection of the sword, then quickly back down. His voice was thick with menace when he spoke. "Nothing short of death—if even that—could separate me from my Pearl again, lad." Then he looked up once more his sinisterly gleeful self, gold teeth flashing in his grin. "My being a wanted man, I couldn't risk your dear Commodore recognizing her. I temporarily commandeered a—less /conspicuous/ vessel."  
  
William grinned. "Was the owner informed?"  
  
"They know by now, no doubt. This is a beautiful piece of work," he said, tucking the saber into his belt behind to the empty scabbard, the new one being wider than the previous blade.  
  
"Thank you," Will said incredulously, "by all means, keep it if you like."  
  
"Aahhhhh, you're too kind," Jack said, swaggering over and putting an arm around Will's shoulder. Despite being taller, Will always felt like the smaller of the two around Jack, and in such proximity he felt like he was surrounded, smothered in coat and hair and the scent of unwashed pirate. "Now," Jack said, guiding Will to the door, "how's about you buy your dear old friend a drink or twenty while you pour your aching heart out about waning lady love?"  
  
"How—"  
  
"Drinks first," Jack insisted in a tone that broached no argument, and escorted them into the street.  
  
***  
  
None of the bars in Port Royal had low enough standards for Jack's tastes, but they made due with the seediest place in town, an inn at the very outskirts where the less savory seafaring folk stayed while in port. When they entered Jack surveyed the room as grandly as he did everything. He seemed to find the place—whatever it was he wanted it to be—so he strutted toward a table near the back of the room and sat.  
  
Will sat as well, leaning heavily on his elbows toward Jack. "Elizabeth and I are not having problems," he insisted too quickly. "We're to be married tomorrow."  
  
Jack looked unimpressed. Then he looked at the bar. Pointedly.  
  
Will sighed and got up to order the first of what he guessed would be many rounds of drinks. The woman behind he bar leaned in close when she put the two mugs down, showing off ludicrous amounts of cleavage.  
  
"Eh, boy," she said in a voice that thought it was whimpering but was often wrong about these things. "Issat Jack Sparrow, there?"  
  
He glanced back at Jack, who reached out to catch a passing wench and pull her into his lap. Will turned back to the bar rather than see where it went from there. "He prefers /Capitan/ Jack Sparrow."  
  
"Word around town is the Capitan there has a very pretty price on his head."  
  
That was hardly a surprise. "Is that so," Will said, reaching for the drinks.   
  
The woman held them fast. "Yeeaah," she said pointedly, "that's so."  
  
"I'll be sure to inform him," Will said and yanked the mugs out of her grasp. She grinned unpleasantly. At a second glance, the grin wasn't unpleasant so much as the teeth were.  
  
"Eh," she said, grinning and darting glances at Jack, "issit true, that he escaped from a deserted island by taming a pair of sharks wit' not but a boot tack and his wits?"  
  
"So I hear," Will said and took his drinks.  
  
Jack was muttering something near the whore he had commandeered's ear. Will couldn't make out anything beyond gravely, rough mutterings, but the woman seemed to like it, because she was giggling and pawing at Jack's chest. She gasped as Will approached.  
  
"How on earth did you escape?" she said.  
  
"Well, you see, the Admiral—" he broke off, seeing Will set the beer in front of him. "'Scuse me, dahhling," he said and virtually pushed her off his lap.  
  
Will glared at the woman's back while she walked off to find a customer. When he returned his attention to Jack, the man was staring at him with large, innocent-looking eyes over the rim of his mug. Something in Will's stomach rippled pleasantly, like it used to do when he thought about Elizabeth. That thought reminded him of Elizabeth and the impending wedding, and all the dread he had been suffering returned at full force.   
  
Something must have shown, because Jack squinted at him and said, "Alright, there?"  
  
Will nodded slightly. /Happy/, he reminded himself, and nodded again, a bit too vigorously. "Fine," he said. Then, trying to change the subject, "the woman at the bar told me you're a wanted man."   
  
Jack grinned. "Wanted by many, luv." He turned and winked at the woman, who had been pretending not to be keeping an eye on him. She grinned and blew a kiss that Will could smell all the way across the bar.  
  
"It's idiot for you to be here, Jack. I find it hard to believe you'd take such a risk for only a sword."  
  
"A sword and to witness the union of my two dearest friends in wedded bliss," Jack insisted.  
  
William thought better than to mention his doubt that he and Elizabeth were Jack's dearest friends, that title having already been filled by a ship and a hat. "So you did know about the wedding?" he said.  
  
"The entire Caribbean knows about the wedding, mate. Quite a scandal you've started, the daughter of Port Royal's governor marrying a common blacksmith and scallywag. And you didn't think to invite me, I might add."  
  
"/I/ thought to invite you," Will said, "but Elizabeth arranged everything, and…"  
  
"And the impression I left on her rather resembled a pock mark." Jack emptied what remained in his mug. "No worries, had I been invited, I wouldn't have come. No sense in being where you're wanted, eh?"  
  
Will tried to nod like he agreed, or at least understood.  
  
"So," Jack said, leaning forward on his elbows, "how is it that you're scheduled to marry your lady love on the morrow, yet you've got the airs of a condemned man?"  
  
"I don't—"  
  
"I've no head for denial, mind," Jack said.  
  
"I'm—" Will stopped the denial quickly, seeing the warning glint in Jack's eyes. "I don't think I'm drunk enough to admit it yet," he said meekly instead.  
  
"I know the perfect cure for that," Jack said and slid his empty mug across the table. "None of that hog's piss this time, either."  
  
After three rounds of very weak, very bad rum, Will's tongue was feeling looser, and he had taken to hunching over his mug, doing a marvelous impression of a kicked puppy.  
  
"She just… changed," he said.  
  
"Aye?" said Jack.  
  
"/Aye/," Will said grandly.  
  
"I imagine you knew her well before your went off and saved her life, her being of high social standing and you being the apprentice to one of many blacksmiths in port. Plenty of opportunities for bonding there."  
  
"It wasn't like that," Will said, "we were… she /saved/ me. Not with you, I mean, before that… but then too. When I was a boy."  
  
"And you grew up being the closest of friends."  
  
"We talked a lot," Will said defensively, though now that he thought of it most of the conversations they had were in his imagination, and the actual ones had been short and impersonal. She had been kind, but she was a kind woman by habit. "Honestly," he pressed on, "I didn't need to talk to her, I /knew/ her. She was beautiful, and sweet, and perfect, and…"  
  
"And then you got to know her."  
  
Will snorted. "More like she got to know me."  
  
"Eh?"  
  
Will took a deep breath. "I got a job as a privateer under bloody /Norrington/, to please her and she got all uppy when I left without her. Then she came along, and she wasn't pleased with /anything/. She even refused to drink anything, because there was only rum and grog, and for some reason she gets sick at the mere mention of rum."  
  
Jack grinned briefly.   
  
"You know what I think, mate?"  
  
"No, Capitan Sparrow, I very rarely know what you think."  
  
"Far as I see it, the lady doesn't know what she wants."  
  
Will blinked slowly. "How could someone not know what they want?"   
  
"Couldn't tell you," Jack said, "I always know /exactly/ what I want."  
  
"And what is that?" Will asked.  
  
"Hear some advice, lad," Jack said, leaning over the table again and looking at him with that oddly innocent expression. "If people don't know what you're after, they'll have a time of keeping you from it. Savvy?"  
  
Will nodded and lied, "yes, /very/ savvy."  
  
"So what is it that you want, then?" Jack said, smiling pleasantly. 


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: Nassau was a popular pirating port back in the day, not unlike Tortuga.  
  
Warnings: This chapter may contain W/E mush and bits of Angsty!Will. Should irritation occur, flush eyes with water and induce vomiting.  
  
Another note: If someone out there who knows Will better than I is feeling particularly kind, I'd appreciate it if you told me what sound he makes when he's nervous. Um? Er? Uh? Hums a jaunty tune, perhaps?  
  
***  
  
Will deliberated silently while Jack entertained himself by simultaneously watching other patrons, humming an unidentifiable tune, and writing dirty words on the table with a finger dipped in rum. Eventually Will said, "I really don't know."  
  
Jack responded as quickly as if there hadn't been a twenty-minute lag in conversation. "Do you want to marry Miizzzzz Swann?"  
  
Will hesitated but slowly said, "not particularly."  
  
"That's something at least. Fancy staying a blacksmith until the end of time?"  
  
"Defiantly not. I—" he hesitated, not wanting to admit it. "I fear I'd like to be a pirate."  
  
Jack grinned wildly then, and sprung up so quickly Will felt dizzy. "Off we go then!" Jack exclaimed, already swaying toward the door.  
  
Will scrambled after him, quickly out the bar and through the streets toward the port. "Where are we going?"  
  
"Nassau," Jack said.  
  
"Nassau!" Will said, struggling to keep up with Jack's suddenly wide gait. "I can't go to Nassau, I'm going to be married tomorrow!"  
  
Jack stopped and turned all at once, so Will ended up knocking into him and falling over.  
  
"You're still on about that?" Jack said, addressing the air where Will's head had been a moment ago.  
  
"Of course I am! I can't simply walk out on Elizabeth."  
  
"You would in fact be sailing out on her."  
  
"I can't do that either," Will insisted. "I can't just—leave. Not Elizabeth."  
  
"You're hardly happy with the lass," Jack said, sitting down in the middle of the street, now addressing William Proper. "And no doubt she's not feeling all sunshine and flowers for you, either."  
  
Will frowned. He hadn't really considered Elizabeth's feelings, simply assuming that she would be heartbroken if they didn't marry. Still, she hadn't mentioned that she was displeased with him, and she was hardly the type of girl to sit back and silently bear discontent.  
  
Jack stood, wobbled slightly, and lithely offered a hand to Will.  
  
"I'm not going to Nassau," Will said.  
  
"Change of plans," he drawled, "we're going to see Miss Swann."  
  
Will cautiously took the offered hand, and Jack hefted him hard enough that they came up chest to chest.  
  
***  
  
According to Will's best approximation, it was somewhere around 2am when they approached the governor's mansion. Some part of Will knew that, should he be in his right state of mind, he wouldn't be doing this. However, as it was, he had had a good deal more alcohol than he was used to and he was in Jack Sparrow's company, which in and of itself was known to make any man a little off.  
  
All of the servants on the house were in bed by that time, as were the masters, but this hardly stopped Jack from banging on knocker repeatedly and yelling, "We've come to steal your women!" at the top of his lungs.  
  
"Shouldn't you be more discreet?" Will said, having been expecting an elaborate break-in that involved but was not limited to: scaling a wall, concussing various guards, and if at all possible a number of daring sword fights.  
  
"Why would I want to do that?" Jack said, peering down either side of the mansion. When it was obviously that no one was going to answer the door and probable that they wouldn't suddenly be swamped by the entire King's Navy, Jack kneeled down and eyed the lock. He then removed his hat, pulled out a number of oddly shaped wires from within, and began picking the lock.  
  
"Has that /ever/ worked?" Will said.  
  
There was a click, and the door swung open. Jack stood, not bothering to step back again and ending up in very close proximity to Will. Jack grinned like the madman he was. Will's stomach lurched and fluttered suddenly, and he couldn't seem to breathe properly.  
  
"Now," Jack said, bobbing even closer, "where doth the fair maiden lay?"  
  
Will pulled a way and took a deep breath, glancing inside. "Um," he said, "this way."  
  
He started up the large staircase, Jack lolling behind, regretfully ogling all the things he wouldn't be stealing. "So you do have a bit of pirate in you after all," he mused, fishing. "Visit her chambers at all hours, I'd wager."  
  
Will felt his ears redden. "It's not like that," he insisted weakly. "And don't make any jokes about my being a eunuch."  
  
"Ah, so you admit it."  
  
"I—" Will turned and glared. Jack looked extraordinarily pleased but took a step back all the same, raising his arms slightly defensively. "Just—be quiet."  
  
They came to Elizabeth's door and Will went to knock, but Jack swept ahead undaunted.   
  
"Dahhling!" he said, grandly sweeping unannounced into the room, throwing his arms out jovially. "Your Capitan has returned to ravish you and whisk you away to be my wicked pirate bride!"  
  
Elizabeth sat up, staring wide-eyed at Jack. It suddenly occurred to Will that he didn't, in fact, have any idea why Jack had wanted to come here, and there was a good chance the pirate hadn't been joking just then. Although, Will decided, if that were the case, this would be a solo mission.  
  
"Mr. Sparrow?!" Elizabeth tried to squawk, but was cut off halfway through by a filthy jewel-bedecked hand covering her mouth.  
  
"None of that, dear," he said close to her ear. "Mustn't wake daddy."  
  
Elizabeth made a high-pitched sound, muffled by the hand, and struggled fiercely against the pirate's hold. Jack stretched out onto of her to subdue the bucking—honestly.  
  
"Elizabeth," Will said. She paused in her thrashing and noticed Will apparently for the first time. He approached slowly, trying to keep his voice soothing. "It's okay, Elizabeth. He's not going to hurt you." Jack swiveled his gaze from Elizabeth to William without moving his head. Will added, "I think."  
  
She gave another short squeal and jolted her entire body once more, but was calmed by Will's presence. Jack experimentally removed his hand from her mouth. She didn't scream. She did glare at both men in turns while wiping at her mouth, looking as if she would very much like to spit.  
  
"/What/," she hissed, "are you doing here?"  
  
Will didn't say anything because he assumed she was talking to Jack. Jack remained silent because that was the sort of information one didn't give out so freely.  
  
"/Well/?" she said, fiery gaze darting between the two.  
  
"Oh, you know how it is—" Jack said at the same time as Will said, "Jack thought that—"  
  
They both stopped.  
  
"Right," Elizabeth said incredulously. "If that's all, you'll excuse me if I go back to sleep. And I suggest you do as well, William Turner. Tomorrow you're to be neither late /nor/ hung over." She said 'hung over' like it was the vilest, most shameful state of mind imaginable.  
  
"Funny," Jack said to Will, "she strikes me as exactly the same." He shifted neared to her, stretching himself out on the bed. Elizabeth moved as far away as she could while still clutching the covers to shield her chest. "Thing is, Luv," Jack said, leering at her, "none of us is leaving this beautiful boudoir until yours and the boy's miscommunication is all sorted out."  
  
"Miscommunication?" Elizabeth and Will said at once.  
  
"Aye," Jack said, settling further onto the bed and tipping his hat over his eyes. "Tomorrow's engagements, as it were." He languidly waved an arm at them, then for all appearances fell asleep.  
  
Will and Elizabeth looked at each other awkwardly. The woman suddenly realized that she was in bed with a filthy pirate and bolted up, pulling on a robe. There was a pause during which the two fidgeted and tried not to look at each other.  
  
"What's this about, Will?" Elizabeth asked eventually.  
  
"Uh—well—I—" Will fidgeted, feeling utterly terrible. He couldn't think of a thing to say. Denying anything was wrong would never be believed. Telling her he didn't want to get married to become a pirate was completely out of the question; he couldn't treat Elizabeth that callously. After a long speech consisting solely of nonsensical sputtering, Elizabeth sighed heavily.  
  
"Oh just tell me, William."  
  
"I want to be a pirate," he spouted suddenly, then blushed. It sounded so juvenile. There was a snorting sound from Jack's direction, but Will couldn't be sure whether it was a stifled laugh or a snore.  
  
There was a pause.  
  
"I see," Elizabeth said evenly. "You know that I can't be married to a pirate, William."  
  
"I know," he said, staring at his feet.  
  
"Is that your choice, then?"  
  
"I—I don't want to hurt you."  
  
She sighed heavily. "There's obviously no avoiding it. It would hurt me more to be the reason you don't follow your dream. Although I would have /appreciated/ you bringing it up sooner."  
  
Will nodded, still staring at anything other than her.  
  
"Will, look at me." Reluctantly, he did. "I love you. I'll always love you, but recently it's become /painfully/ clear that we could never work without one or both of us being miserable."  
  
"You've been miserable, too?"  
  
"Oh, darling, /of course/ I have."  
  
They both smiled very slightly.  
  
"I love you, too, Elizabeth," Will said quietly. "Perhaps not in the way I originally expected, but I do love you."  
  
She nodded, and they embraced. For the first time in as long as he had been allowed contact with her, he didn't feel like a deceitful monster touching her. He kissed the top of her head, and she let out a tiny sob, though her eyes remained dry.  
  
When they pulled away, Jack was awake and looming a small distance away, squinting distrustfully at Elizabeth. He moved cautiously, as one would when trying not to startle an animal—or at least as Jack would when trying not to startle an animal, which seemed to be a unique dance all its own.  
  
"That's it?" he said. "No hollering, no scorned woman whatall? No fisticuffs?" At the last he looked nearly disappointed.  
  
Elizabeth straightened and looked regal. "Certainly not." Jack didn't look convinced. "Although you should both be pleased I have a modicum of self-restraint, as well as no pistols or sharp object."  
  
Jack grinned and grabbed Will's arm, dragging him toward the door but never facing away from Elizabeth. "That's more like it, Luv. Ta so for the lad. Should The Pearl ever visit your lovely port again, I'll be sure to return him for some fun and frolic." 


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks so much to the scads of people that reviewed! I'm so so so flattered, especially that you like my Jack. Hopefully I can keep up the quality insanity. I've been considering writing a tutorial on how to write him, but I'm not sure if I have stones enough. Any opinions?  
  
I'd have updated sooner but this was a tough chapter to write, and I was busy making a hat. THE hat. Leather is a bitch to sew, however, and I split my thumb, so I'm stuck with typing for a while. Good for readers, I suppose. *s* I'm not sure if I'm completely pleased with this chapter, but I promised myself I would post by Sunday. It is 5am Monday. I haven't slept yet, so it's still Sunday in my head.  
  
***  
  
The ship that Jack had 'commandeered' this time was a sloop, just small enough for only two men to sail. With the Capitan's occasionally reminder as to which rope to pull when, Will maneuvered them out of the harbor. There was no daring escape from the law this time, but they were sailing into the sunrise which looked a lot like a sunset if you didn't look too long, and that was suitably dramatic for Will. He imagined Elizabeth watching him sail into the yellow and purple sky from her balcony, perhaps clutching a handkerchief yet smiling sadly, breeze gently rippling her nightgown. Best not to think about the nightgown aspect, though. Just as he was beginning to have doubts about leaving, Jack said from his position at the wheel, "no time for regret, lad."   
  
Will nodded and looked to the horizon, his back to the retreating port.  
  
Mid-day found them both lounging on the waist, passing a tin cup of fresh water between them. The ship, stocked for a crew of fifteen, had more than enough food and water for the two, and Jack had wisely decided not to drink all the rum the first day out.  
  
Jack was sprawled lazily against the deckhouse, one long leg stretched out in front of him, the other cocked casually toward Will, an arm dangling lazily over it. Whenever Will passed him the tin Jack would tap out a senseless rhythm with his rings on the side of the cup before he took a drink. He had an odd habit of swallowing the water, pausing for a long moment with the cup still to his lips, suddenly utterly, uncharacteristically still, then very quickly handing it back to Will.   
  
Will wanted to understand the man desperately. It wasn't something he realized until one night along at his forge, just an inkling of a thought. Now, sitting next to him, it was undeniable. He wanted to ask why Jack did everything so unconventionally, what the trinkets in his hair meant to him, how he grew up. He knew that even if he did ask, one way or another he wouldn't get answers. He wanted to watch him as well, memorize all the ticks and flourishes, maybe even try to provoke some kind of response—to know him. It was an urge that Will had never felt before. He had wanted to be with Elizabeth to be sure, but he had always felt he knew her completely from the moment they met. Everyone else he had ever known was predictable, understandable. The only other person he had ever wanted to prod for the sake of seeing their reaction was Norrington, and that was more for maniacal reasons than anything else.  
  
Eventually, after a long companionable silence, something occurred to Will.  
  
"This was your plan all along!" He was an idiot. A gullible idiot.  
  
Jack looked at Will as if he had just yelled, shocked, "oh my god—you're a pirate!"  
  
"You came to Port Royal to convince me to break my engagement to Elizabeth and sail away with you."  
  
Jack smiled innocently, looking as if he saw no problem in this. It was an odd effect, the innocently smiling gold-lined mouth, eyes cast in shadows from the tilted hat. Demonic, child-like and alluring all at the same time.  
  
"I," Will said. "You…" Then he thought better than to feel outraged. He had never had luck when mixing indignancy and Jack in the past; it would get him nowhere. And, he realized, he too had gotten what he ultimately wanted.   
  
Instead he said, "How did you know I would agree?"   
  
This to the man who could charm the birds from the trees, the fish from the sea, and make a profit while doing it.  
  
"I," Jack said grandly, "can read people."  
  
"You can read people," Will repeated doubtfully.  
  
"I can."  
  
"I suppose you allowed your crew to mutiny, then?"   
  
"Before the skill came into full gestation," Jack said assuredly. "Moreover, Barbossa was shadier than a parasol on a moonless night, whereas you…" he paused pointedly, "have yet to cultivate that necessary strength."  
  
Will tried not to rise to the bait. "I'm sure there are plenty of other men that would give their eye to be part of your crew. Why go to all the trouble to get me?"  
  
"You're of good stock, lad. Proven yourself a hard worker, can hold your own plus a few other's in a fight. Loyal to the point of sheer idiocy."  
  
"That can be cured by repeatedly calling me an idiot," Will said, slightly disgruntled.   
  
Jack grinned. "No, lad, it's considerably harder to cure than that." He swayed slightly, bumping shoulders with Will. "Shame you've lost yours, though."  
  
Will blinked, then frowned. "Just because I left Elizabeth doesn't mean I'm not loyal," he said defensively.  
  
Jack pulled back and stared at him oddly for a moment. "Your hat. You lost your hat—fancy number, plumed like anything." He swayed back again, this time leaning closer so the entire length of their arms were pressed together.  
  
"Oh," Will said, a bit dizzy from the sudden subject change as well as the contact. "Sophia ate it," he said. "The donkey."   
  
Jack nodded gravely, as if he had just been told a dear friend had died. "You'll find another soon enough."  
  
Will wasn't used to such blatant physical contact. From what he remembered of his mother, she was a restrained woman who wasn't unkind but only touched him to beat him. Master Brown was similar, and though he did get as far as kissing Elizabeth a few times, every other time the were together she was the prefect reserved young woman, hardly even standing close to him. No one but Jack had ever touched him casually and generally without intent to harm, and he did it with great frequency. Will wasn't quite sure what to make of it.  
  
"What is it you want, Jack?" Will asked, his voice slightly lower than usual.  
  
Jack turned his head so they were nearly touching noses. Will's breath caught, staring at the dark, hooded eyes.  
  
"I'd rather like a winged ship," Jack said, "So's I can really take them by surprise, flying in and all. Though I imagine I'd miss the sea"  
  
Will didn't know what he was expecting Jack to say, but it certainly wasn't that.  
  
He said, "I meant—" but was cut off when suddenly when Jack's face disappeared, leaving Will looking at empty space.  
  
"God's piss," Jack swore, standing above Will and looking abaft.   
  
Will stood unsteadily, and saw what Jack had. A large ship was fast approaching. They were close enough to see that it was very well manned.  
  
"It looks like a merchant ship," Will said, "they shouldn't give us any trouble."  
  
"That's no merchant ship," Jack said, glaring at it.  
  
"Well, shouldn't we try to outrun them? We can't fight them, we must be outnumbered twenty to one."  
  
"Can't outrun them," Jack said, glancing wildly about. He took off, ducking into the hold.  
  
"What do you propose we do, then?" Will yelled after him. The approaching ship dropped its flag and raised a black one with a skull and three parallel bones beneath it.  
  
Jack emerged a moment later, a large number of pistols strapped to his coat. He handed three to Will then stared at them, hands spread out as if making a point. "Take these," he said with great importance.  
  
"I don't know how to use a pistol, Jack," Will said.  
  
"Pretend you do," Jack said, "and you won't need to."  
  
"Even we can't fight them all off!"  
  
"Look alive."  
  
Will tucked two pistols into his trousers, keeping the other on hand, and tried his best to look fearsome. The ship was close enough to begin boarding. Before any cannons were fired or anyone managed to swing across, however, Jack leaned as close as he could get and yelled, "Avast ye!"  
  
A few of the pirates—quite obviously pirates, close up—paused and looked ready to listen, though not for long.  
  
"Before you do anything rash," Jack said convincingly, powerful voice projecting to the other ship yet somehow not yelling, "I've got to say one thing, aye?   
  
"Parley."  
  
The other pirates looked slightly disappointed. 


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks once more to those who reviewed! I am utterly delighted at the response this is getting. For those of you that aren't slash fans (slash mean sexual relations between two men) but are reading anyway, now would be the time to stop. I'm giving you ample warning, so I'd appreciate it if I don't get any negative emails about it. It isn't very blatant in this chapter, but the next one will possibly get to the point where I have to begin censoring. For those who are all for the censored bits, an uncut version will be posted on the PiratesoftheCaribbean_Slash yahoo group, and pooossssiiibbbbly adultfanfiction.net, if I decide to begin posting there as well. Thanks to those who have read up 'till now, and more thanks to those who plan to continue reading!  
  
***  
  
Capitan Henry Booth was short but incredibly thick, with a low drowning voice and an accent that sounded vaguely German. Jack approached him jovially, slumped and graceful, not towering over him like he could with even taller men. Will stood at Jack's back, making sure none of the men tried anything funny—or not funny, as was the case.  
  
"'Allo," Jack said cheerfully.  
  
"Your conditions," Booth growled.  
  
Jack dropped the cordial act and straightened, suddenly a confident, no-nonsense leader. "Take what you want of my stocks, leave enough for me and the boy to eat and drink to Nassau… as well as all of the alcohol."  
  
"How about we take everything, break your masts, and leave you and the boy to die."  
  
There was a pause during which Jack thought about that. "No—I rather prefer my conditions."  
  
Booth laughed the laugh of someone trying to intimidate, and a moment later the crew joined obediently. When they quieted enough to be heard, Booth said, "and pray tell, what's to stop me from carrying out mine?"  
  
"Me and the boy," Jack said, slimy grin audible in his voice.  
  
"And," Booth said, "who are you and the boy that should worry me?"  
  
"Thought you'd never ask, mate. The boy here is the twinkle in the eye of one Bootstrap Bill Turner. Takes after him, if I do say so. And I…" he took a swaying step forward, indicating himself with a flourish of a hand, "am Capitan Jack Sparrow. Savvy?"  
  
Booth paled. The crew, who had previously leering at Will, took a step back and collectively began commenting on the weather.  
  
"Fine," Booth said, voice a tad hoarse. "Your conditions—save for the alcohol."  
  
"You'll have ten percent," Jack said.  
  
"Forty, and you and the boy stay aboard the Widow's Sorrow through the night. My men could use a good tale or two."  
  
Jack nodded, his entire upper body included in the motion, and the two captains shook. The crew rushed off to loot Jack's borrowed ship while Jack watched, absently wiping his hand on his coat.  
  
"For all you say it," Will muttered when no one else was in hearing range, "one might think your middle name was Sparrow, and your last Savvy."  
  
Jack smiled and said nothing.  
  
***  
  
The Widow's Sorrow, it turned out, was well stocked with women. Few of them were widows, and none of them were sorrowful. They weren't the unsavory types that came dressed as pirates, Jack assured Will, but genuine, wholesome Tortuga harlots. That night while Jack regaled the crew with countless tales of his adventures—mainly fabricated, Will surmised—he had a steady stream of women fawning over him. At any given time he seemed to have one on each knee, two or three doting over him, and any number of others queued up for the next available space. It made it quite impossible for Will to be anywhere near the man.   
  
Will had never been apt at reveling with strangers. During his short time as a privateer he had been one of the crew, easily accepted, but here he was unknown, living off a borrowed reputation, with none of Jack's easy charm. Now he felt that he should be at Jack's arm, nobly keeping watch for nefarious activity among the men, but he could hardly contend with the whores for space. He ended up standing alone in the best shadow he could find, quietly brooding and listening to Jack pander.   
  
Will closed his eyes and leaned against the quarter rail, letting Jack's irregular speech patterns engross him. The pirate had great the ability to hold the crowd captive while carrying on multiple unrelated conversations, all at once—most often one with Booth and one with the whore on each knee. Will decided that, if pirating should ever lose its thrill for Jack, he could easily become a tailor with his skill for spinning yarns. Midway through a tale about how Jack escaped the East India Company by training a monkey to write and pick locks, there was a rustling sound at Will's side. He opened his eyes.  
  
A woman slapped him.  
  
Suddenly he had great insight as to what it was like to be Jack Sparrow. He was relatively certain he didn't deserve that.  
  
Jack, apparently hearing the familiar sound, yelled, "that's the spirit, mate!" and raised his bottle in toast. The crew applauded and howled drunkenly along.  
  
Will looked askance to the woman who had struck him, an exceptionally tall woman with dirty blonde hair and eyes the color of… eyes.  
  
"Sorry, dear," she said, not unkindly. "Owed your daddy that, and I hear he's in no condition to collect."  
  
Will rubbed his cheek.  
  
"You look like him," she continued, moving closer and reaching out to stroke his cheek. "Prettier, though. Bootstrap was nuffink if not strapping. I'm Delilah. Care to go below?"  
  
"Uh—no, thank you," Will said, trying to fend off her advances. He grabbed a descending advance and held it as far above waist-level as it would go.  
  
"Fancy a go among the men, then?" she said, smiling and taking advantage of the new position to press her chest to his. "Won't be nuffink none of them ain't seen before."  
  
"That's very kind, but truly, I'm fine."  
  
She pouted thin lips. "Shame. You are pretty, and if you take after your father in more ways than one—well—" she eyed him suggestively.   
  
Will tried to not shudder. "How well did you know my father?" he asked, trying to change the subject.  
  
She grinned. "Knew him /very/ well three, four times a night if he could afford it. Could give you a demonstration…"  
  
Will pressed on. "Did you know him at the same time as he knew Jack?"  
  
"Oh, darlin', your daddy never knew Jack. Though not for want on Jack's part, so I hear."  
  
"I—what?" Will said, confused. "Jack told me they were good friends."  
  
"They was. Just never got to being more than friendly, see?"  
  
Will blinked, trying to make sense of the conversation. More than friendly… "You mean Jack wanted to—to—"  
  
"The word you're looking for is fuck, dear."  
  
Will cringed. "Yes. But that's impossible."  
  
"How's that?"  
  
"Well, for one, neither one of them is female."  
  
Delilah let out a snorting, high-pitched laugh. "Oh, son, that's real cute."  
  
"I wasn't trying to be /cute/," Will said crossly.  
  
"Oh," she said, looking at him with wide eyes, "you really don't know?"  
  
"Know what?"  
  
She grinned slowly, glancing at Jack, who was currently whispering into the ear of a brunette. "Not my place to say, son." Her gaze passed appraisingly over Will again. "Not a virgin, are you?"  
  
"I don't see that's any of your concern!"  
  
"I see, I see… eunuch?"  
  
"/No, I am not a eunuch!/" Will hissed.  
  
"Now, don't go overboard son. It's an obvious conclusion, pretty lad such as your self, in the company of pirates and not knowing a lick about the birds and… well, birds got nuffink to do with it, eh?"  
  
"I have no idea what you mean, and I suspect I should be grateful for that."  
  
"Delilah!" Jack yelled, detangling himself from the brunette, who had for all appearances passed out. Most of the crew was in that state as well by now, the ones that weren't were completely preoccupied with women or drink. Jack sauntered toward Will and Delilah, casually stepping on anyone in his path.  
  
"Oh, Jaaaaaack," Delilah crooned, "you remember me."  
  
"Never forget a lady, my dear," Jack said, kissing her hand and bowing exaggeratedly. "Leastwise one that stole the hearts and wallets of so many of my men."  
  
"But never yours, Jack."  
  
"Had mine removed," Jack said conversely, "years ago. Replaced with a bear trap, in case anyone's fool enough go looking for it." He leaned close to the woman and made a show of scrutinizing Will. "You looking to corrupt my boy? He'd do well with some of your charms."  
  
"Trying, but he's proving mighty hard to corrupt. Virgin, did you know."  
  
Jack's eyes swept the length of Will's body, something possessive and feral lurking behind the dark orbs. Will felt heat rise in his stomach and shamefully lower. "My guess was eunuch," Jack said.  
  
"Aye, I thought the same, but he denies it up and down. Suppos'n we should check? To be sure, like?"  
  
"I think /I/ should have some say in this," Will said indignantly.  
  
"Aye, true enough," Jack said, eyes innocent. Will was beginning to realize that was a very bad sign. "However the lady questions your honor. The right proper thing to do is prove your word is truth."  
  
"It would be the proper thing," Delilah agreed.  
  
Will backed up the half step it took for his back to meet the rail. "Pirates don't care about honor," he said, trying to reason.  
  
Jack's demeanor suddenly shifted. He stalked toward Will, gaze hard, forcing Will to lean back further until he was in real danger of falling overboard. This wasn't the careless, foppish man Will trepidaciously called friend; this was the man that even the fiercest pirates on the ocean were afraid to face, staring Will straight in the eye.  
  
"That's where you're wrong, boy," Jack said, none of the usual lilt to his voice. "A pirate is worth his word if nothing else in the world. Without it he's nothing but a thieving swine at sea, and if he's under my command, a quick dead one at that. You'd do well to remember that."  
  
Will nodded hastily, slightly terrified at the suddenly threatening pirate. The proximity wasn't helping either, fear combined with the odd fluttering in his stomach always that came with close contact to Jack, making his heart race and his lowers tighten. He took a deep stumbling breath, trying to steady himself. Jack seemed to find Will's reaction satisfactory, because he nodded once and backed up just enough that Will didn't have to strain to stay aboard.  
  
"Since we understand each other—" Jack abruptly put his hand to Will's crotch and /rubbed/.  
  
Will gasped and closed his eyes, and was instantly ashamed at his wanton reaction. He tried to pull away but was still in a precarious enough position that he couldn't lean back or let go of the rail for risk of falling. "Jack," he growled, voice far less outraged and more breathless and pleading than he had been trying for.  
  
Just as abruptly the hand withdrew and Jack turned away completely, leaving Will to sag and pant against the rail, struggling not to be disappointed.  
  
"Delilah my dear," Jack said, sauntering back to her, "you have it good authority that the son of Bootstrap Bill is indeed fully functioning, all parts accounted for."  
  
She curtsied her thanks, showing a nice view of cleavage. When she rose she looked to Will, still panting shallowly, struggling to regain composure.  
  
"Don't you play games with that one, Jack," she said for Jack's ears only. "We both know it's a fool that trifles with Turner blood.  
  
Jack turned to watch Will as well, who had recovered now and was glaring at Jack with great skill. Jack said, not quiet enough that Will couldn't hear if he tried, "I've met his blade, and I don't care to be on the wrong end of it again."  
  
Delilah muttered, "you'd do well not to molest him, then," and wandered off to see if any of men had passed out without emptying their bottles. Jack approached Will again, all casual grace as if nothing was the matter. "Don't look so ravaged, lad," he said. His gaze darted about the unconscious crew and muttered, "there may be talk." He moved to put and arm around Will's shoulder, but was pushed away roughly.  
  
"Do not," Will growled, "touch me."  
  
He stormed off to the other side of the ship, anywhere that he could escape Jack. 


	6. Chapter 6

I feel really awful about not responding to each review, so I'm going to start. See next page for details.  
  
What I learned writing this chapter: Inside Will's head is a lot more fucked up than inside Jack's head. It's a shock. Also, as disappointing as this may be, the heavy slash will be postponed. This chapter has sex in it, but it's more theoretical sex, and it's mainly het. Be patient. We'll get there.  
  
***  
  
This is what William Turner knew about sex.  
  
When he was very young, his mother told him that if he ever touched his… /organ/ for any purpose besides urinating or washing, it would fall off. To illustrate her point one day, she took him to the harbor to see a large ship come in and pointed out all the men missing legs, arms, eyes, and even teeth, and she told him that, should the men drop their trousers, he could see what else was missing. She told him he would go to Hell as well, because God hated weak, lustful men, and he would never marry because without it, he could never give his wife children.  
  
Being young, Will didn't understand why anyone would /want/ to do such a trivial thing with such dire consequences. He was tempted at times, simply because it was something he was /forbidden/ to do, but whenever he considered it the image of a sailor with an eye and all but three teeth missing flashed in his mind, and he imagined what the man's sunken endowments must look like, and he always thought better of it.  
  
Then he left his mother found Elizabeth, who was beautiful and soft and kind. All at once he knew why men were so tempted, and he knew why his mother had been so sure to warn him of the dangers of relieving himself in that way, because if she hadn't he surely would have given in and all chance he had to marry Ms. Swann would be lost.  
  
His first few years in Port Royal he had been sure to go to Mast regularly, to confess his sins as his mother taught him. Forgive me father for I have sinned. I have lusted after a woman. Did you act on this lust in any way, son? No father. No, of course not… after a few years of having the same conversation every week with the priest he began to go less, and then not at all. It was time he could spend perfecting his craft, and if God forgave his every time before, Will figured it wasn't likely He would stop just because Will stopped telling the priest. As long as he didn't act on it.  
  
Eventually, not being /completely/ gullible, Will realized that his mother had lied to him, that should he act on it he would remain bodily intact, and perhaps she had even lied about it being a sin. But it was still an improper act, and he was adamant about being proper for Ms. Swann's sake, no matter how tempted he was. She deserved nothing less. Whenever he saw her he ached for her, though he couldn't say how. Some nights he had dreams that refused to be controlled—jumbled images, the curve of her neck, a graceful glace of ankle as she stepped into her carriage, her shapely arm—and he would wake up breathing heavily, bed sheets soiled. The first time it terrified him. The second confused him. After the fourth he decided that it was simply another part of becoming a man, like the hair beginning to grow in odd places.  
  
When Master Brown turned more heavily to the drink, Will would have to fetch him from the cheap taverns when the hour got too late. There he learned the mechanics of what men and women did, because everywhere he looked they seemed to be doing it. It seemed so carnal—he couldn't picture Ms. Swann in such an improper position. She was meant to be clothed in fine dresses, not bare, unkempt and out of control like the women in the tavern.  
  
It would have been improper for him to lay with her before they were married, of course. Elizabeth had had complaint with this, of course, with her penitent for doing the proper thing only when it suited her. And Will, of course, had insisted they didn't. Though he did wish to place small, chaste kisses down her neck and arm, to worship her, he feared what would come next. He couldn't stand the thought of Elizabeth performing such a lowly act, like any common whore. He didn't think he could ever bear to look at her again, knowing it had been the one to lower her so.  
  
Will thought about this.  
  
Then, there was Jack… meeting Jack was like waking up for the first time, like coming up for air after far too long underwater. Jack wasn't anything Will had ever dreamed existed. Before his world revolved completely around Elizabeth, who was soft, calm, but Jack… Jack was uncontrollable, unpredictable, all fire and mystery. If Will allowed himself to admit it, Jack coaxed reactions from him that he had thought only Elizabeth could, except different. With Jack they were wilder, far more acute, like the difference between a wound from a dull blade and a sharp one. Will could easily imagine Jack in a wanton state. It didn't take much imagination, everything Jack did seemed a bit wanton. However, unlike with Elizabeth, it didn't seem to soil the man at all. Not that the man could possibly be any more soiled than he already was…  
  
The gentle creak of rope sounded in harmony with the sea lapping at the ships, and then the soft twin thunks of two boots that were very practiced at landing in this manner. Will took another swing of rum, too used to it by now to even flinch, and impassively watched Jack re-board the Spartan. Will hadn't planned on drinking tonight, but drink dulled the world, and dull was currently Will's very close friend.  
  
"You stay away, Pirate," he spat—slurred, rather. He looked to his bottle for answers, and found it nearly empty.  
  
"Easy, lad," Jack said. "Your maidenhood is safe with me. I've never been fond of taking what isn't freely given." Will opened his mouth to protest, but Jack quickly added, "in his context, of course."  
  
"That's not what the song says," Will insisted. "You /rape/, you pillage, you… something. And something. I don't recall exactly what, but I'm sure rape was the first part."  
  
"Ah, that line was more about principal, you see, than actual—"  
  
Will interrupted, currently lacking the attention span needed to listen to explanation. "What were you to my father?"  
  
Jack's eyes darted briefly, looking at nothing. "His captain," he said decisively.  
  
"That woman said that you wanted to… to do man-y/woman-y things to him."  
  
Jack smirked slightly, eyeing Will. "I believe," he said convincingly, "in that case, there would be a supreme lack of woman-y, and a surplus of man-y. As it were."  
  
"That's /exactly/ what I told her," Will said. "Well, not exactly, because you speak quite oddly, but that's what I meant… not enough females, is what."  
  
"No females at all," Jack agreed, eyes wide.  
  
"Yes!" Will cried triumphantly. "/None/. So you couldn't—I mean—it's not right… because I've /seen/ that sort of thing, and it just wouldn't work without a woman."  
  
"You'd be amazed at what works with proper motivation," Jack muttered.  
  
"What's that mean?" Will said.  
  
"Nothing at all, lad." He motioned briefly upward with both hands. "Up, now. We've got to make way."  
  
Will struggled to stand unassisted. Jack didn't move to help, and indeed hadn't even neared Will at all during the entire conversation. Will tried to figure out whether he thought this was a good thing or a bad thing, and settled on it being a thing, because he wasn't feeling up to internal debate just then.   
  
"I thought we were to stay 'till morning," he said.  
  
"Aye, we were, but Booth is planning to ambush us come sunrise. Figures it'll make him an easy reputation, doing off with Capitan Jack Sparrow and Bootstrap Bill's namesake in one go."  
  
Will frowned, still unsteady and struggling with the ropes. "How do you know that?"  
  
"Told you," Jack said, smiling confidently, "I can read people." 


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Look Ma, first ever seduction scene! And no hands… go me. I'd really appreciate some honest opinions on this one please. I nearly didn't post it, but then I realized I have no shame.  
  
***  
  
Will died, and woke up in hell.  
  
At least that's what he was sure had happened, judging by the indescribable pain and blinding light which must surely be an unholy inferno. On the journey down someone seemed to have gagged him with Master Brown's only pair of stockings, because nothing else could compare to that particular flavor.  
  
Will moaned and shifted, trying to gather the strength to raise his arm to shield himself from the evil, evil, /evil/ Caribbean sun.  
  
There was a rustling at his side and something was placed in his hand. Will slit his eyes, trying to find a happy medium between stabbing pain and sight, but could only make out Jack's unmistakable silhouette against the blinding white sky.  
  
"D'you need help sitting up?" someone asked. The tone was far too gentle to be Jack, although it certainly seemed to be coming from the figure above him, and the voice certainly /sounded/ like Jack's…  
  
Will considered sitting up, and felt nauseous.  
  
"No, thank you," he said, trying to figure out how to speak without moving his head at all. "I think I'll be just fine dying where I lay."  
  
"You're not dying, lad," Jack—it must have been Jack—said in the same odd tone. "Experiencing the after-effects of a night well spent is all."  
  
It was a ploy, Will decided. A tool that Jack used to his advantage, like every other thing Jack did. To wit; the sound of gently rustling sails currently hammered unbearably into Will's head, making him want to climb the masts and kill the sails until they were all very very, very very very, very very, very dead. Jack's voice, somehow, did not have the same effect. Will figured it must be a survival trait one must cultivate when living among eternally hung over cutthroats.  
  
"It'll help to drink this," Jack said.  
  
"I don't think I'll be drinking anything ever again, thanks," Will said.  
  
"You'll feel better," Jack said. "Trust me."  
  
Will squinted hard at the pirate once more, and decided it best not to comment. Rather than risking sitting up he decided to try his luck drinking while lying down, and tentatively raised the bottle.  
  
It was plucked from his hand.  
  
"Ah, ah," Jack said, "You'll be wanting the other one."  
  
Will twitched his other hand and found that it, too, had a bottle in it, smaller than the other. He realized it must be the thing that had been placed there not minutes before. Then he realized that the one Jack had just taken had to have been left over from last night's disaster, which he had evidently been clutching while he slept. Then his head throbbed in protest at all the thinking going on.  
  
He decided to throw caution to the wind and took a deep drink of whatever it was Jack had given him. He instantly regretted not sitting up, because the terrible taste made him gag, and consequently sputter, and turn quickly on his side to avoid choking.  
  
"Oh, that's /horrible/," he moaned in between coughs.  
  
"Aye, it is," Jack said. "Drink up."  
  
Will glared at Jack as well as he could while lying at the man's feet, barely able to open his eyes, and slightly covered in unidentified, foul-tasting liquid.  
  
"Are you disobeying your captain?" Jack asked, the prelude to a threat in his voice.  
  
Will grudgingly propped himself up on his elbows and took another pull, trying not to vomit. He managed to finish off the bottle, only gagging twice. When he was done he coughed and cringed and panted, but his head quickly cleared and the pain resided.  
  
Will blinked. Jack handed him another bottle, which he took a swig from before thinking.  
  
"Ugh, /rum/," he spat, glaring at Jack.  
  
"For the taste," Jack insisted, grinning, and offered a hand down to Will.  
  
Will stared at it, thinking very hard. Something in his memory sparked… last night… Will's eyes widened.  
  
Jack nodded seemingly to himself, said, "ah," and withdrew the hand.  
  
"Ah?" Will said, outraged. "That's all you're going to say?" He clamored to his feet and attempted to intimidate Jack with superior height, but Jack just watched him impassively.  
  
"It was an honest mistake, mate," Jack said, smiling pathetically.  
  
"You mistook me for a woman?" Will nearly yelled.  
  
"I mistook you," Jack said clearly, pointing slightly for emphasis, "for a man with significantly broader horizons." He turned, and abruptly left Will to consider this.  
  
After a moment Will followed. Jack had taken up his place at the helm, steering the ship with an air of great importance.  
  
"I have broad horizons," Will insisted.  
  
"Aye," Jack said sincerely, "comparable indeed to any man down a ditch."  
  
"Anyhow," Will forged on through gritted teeth, "I fail to see what my… /horizons/ have to do with… last night."  
  
Jack eyed him appraisingly. He grinned briefly. "Tell me what sodomy is, lad."  
  
Will blinked, thrown at the sudden change of subject. The word wasn't familiar. He supposed it must have something to do with pillars of salt, but thought it wise not to venture that guess. He shook his head, feeling slightly deflated.  
  
Jack swept his arms out and bowed dramatically to Will, grinning all the way, as if this proved his point. He moved to turn back to the ship but Will, furious from getting nowhere with the man, quickly ducked between him and the wheel.  
  
"Stop playing games with me, Jack! Either explain your intentions last night or—"  
  
He froze mid-sentence. Perhaps it had been a mistake, placing himself between a ship's wheel and a pirate captain that lacked all concept of personal space who could entice Will unspeakably with just a well timed look.  
  
"Or what, mate?" Jack said, wicked satisfaction oozing from his words. Will could feel Jack's heat seeping through their clothes and found it impossible to move, to breathe, to do anything but stand there entranced. When Jack placed both hands back on the wheel surrounding Will, he was well and truly trapped.  
  
"Now," he said huskily, his dark eyes completely encompassing Will's view, "as charming as I find your abstemious naiveté, I feel somewhat obligated to enlighten you to all… /possible/ horizons."  
  
They were so close, almost flush from thigh to shoulder, just nearly touching the entire way up. If one of them breathed too deeply their chests would surely brush. Will was doing a lot of deep breathing just then, but Jack seemed to be able to compensate, sure to keep them on the razor edge of contact.  
  
Jack leaned so his lips were at Will's ear, a hair's breath away like everything else. The gentle puffs of Jack's breathing against his ear made Will light-headed, and when Jack spoke, so close Will could feel where they ghosted over the lobe, he felt he would surely faint. "There's more than one way a man can receive pleasure," Jack purred. His beard tickled Will's collarbone as he spoke, each brush sending bright shocks through Will. "The mouth for example," Jack continued, slowly descending down Will's ear and lower, still not touching but sending warm tingling breath everywhere it went, "can have," down the neck, "many," into the hollow where neck met shoulder, "uses," to the tip of the collarbone. Will had no doubts about one particular mouth's many uses, and was eager to discover them firsthand.  
  
Jack paused to let out a long, hot sigh along Will's collarbone. Will gasped and shuddered violently, knees suddenly weak, struggling to keep standing.  
  
Jack stopped there, simply breathing maddeningly on Will's collar. Some part of Will knew that he should be protesting, but that tiny voice faded with each moist breath against his skin. With the last of his melting resolve he managed to gasp, "It's not proper," though it sounded more like a plea than a protest.  
  
Jack looked all the way up at him, eyes wide and impossibly dark. "You left proper behind with the shore, William." He straightened languidly, titled his head just so, never breaking eye contact. Their lips were close now, ghosting together as Jack spoke. "You're a pirate now. As such, you get to experience all of the… /benefits/," Jack pressed oh so slightly closer, lips finally making gentle, fleeting contact, but the next words were once again regretfully distanced, "the title entails."  
  
Will licked his dry lips, the feel of Jack's still singing on them, breathing hard, impossibly tempted to capture Jack's lips with his own. Inhibition dropped away and he leaned forward toward that tormenting mouth, but he met only with air. He tried again, and Jack pulled further out of his reach, and then pulled away completely. Will watched him, confused, distracted by enticing red lips and impossibly dark, unfathomable eyes.  
  
"Just not now," Jack said quietly. 


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Okay, I'm having a bit of a bad night, because I'm at my mother's house, and apparently while I was gone she started a halfway house for mice. Every few minutes I hear scratching or scurrying all around me, and I have a cat's instincts, so I'm going MAD. I did see a nekkid lady earlier, though, so the day wasn't a complete loss… anyhow. It took a while to write this chapter. I have an excuse, but it's a very long story involving a haunted dishwasher, Seattle's premier music festival, and a knife named Silhouette. Not in that order. Next chapter WILL be seeeeexxxxxx. Sex sex sex! Rating will go up to R on ff.net, and I will post the /real/ smut on aff.net. What I plan to do for censoring is cut out all the bits with nekkid penises. I hope that's a good guideline. Umm… that chapter may take longer than usual as well, because of all the elements I mentioned before, as well as an extended family reunion and the fact that I've never /actually/ written a sex scene before, and I'm very trepidatious. Okay. I'm done. On with the story. Bloody mice.  
  
***  
  
"What?" Will asked, confused. Jack was rejecting him?  
  
"You're not in your right mind, lad, and—"  
  
"What? I'm not drunk, Jack!" he insisted.  
  
"Not on spirits perhaps, but there's more than one way to it. I won't have you do something you'll regret later."  
  
Lust began to give way to anger. "When did you start caring about my regrets?"  
  
Jack's gaze darted around briefly as if looking for an escape, then he looked back to Will. "Seeing as we're only two of us on a ship some hundred miles away from any thought of land, I think it best to keep on the good side of your righteous indignation." He grinned very briefly.  
  
"I can make my own decisions!" Will said incredulously.  
  
Jack backed up another step and raised his hands. "Aye son, that you can. But you can hardly make mine."  
  
***  
  
Some time later Will was trying very hard to think while he worked around the ship. Hard work always helped to distract troubled thoughts, and while working in the forge was far harder work, it required different muscles to hoist sails that to hammer steel, so it exhausted Will just the same.  
  
He should have never left Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who he had subtle, familiar passion for, who was sweet, and who's thoughts never seemed very great a mystery. He felt he had betrayed her by desiring someone else. He had been engaged to her for a year, never once man enough to satisfy her, and left her on the day of her wedding for a ship and a man. Yet he only felt remorse for his wandering lust, and he felt worse that he didn't regret his other misdeeds.  
  
And Jack! Oh, Lord, Jack. He had tried to kiss Jack. His friend and captain had been trying to explain something to him—albeit in his own uniquely Jack way—and Will had sullied the gesture like some… /sexual deviant/. He was terrified that Jack would decide Will's behavior was unacceptable for one of his crew and send him back to Port Royal. It wouldn't be much of a bother, turning around. They were only a day from Port Royal, where it would take another eight to go all the way to Nassau.  
  
He didn't know how he would ever look at Jack again. Unfortunately, he didn't know how he would ever /not/ look at him again either. He was a vixen in pirate's clothing—though currently he wasn't wearing much of them, stripped down to shirtsleeves in the sun, which certainly wasn't helping Will's wicked thoughts. Jack stood at the helm, exuding majesty and power despite being half-naked. A siren turned sailor.  
  
A few note of the song Jack was singing reached Will's ears, and he cringed. Well. Perhaps not a siren, then…  
  
Stealing himself, Will tied off the last line and straightened, whipping sweat from his brow. The heat and hard work had caused him to strip to shirtsleeves as well. On a normal occasion he would had gone bare-chested, but he was afraid it would off-put Jack.  
  
"Jack," Will said, cautiously approaching the helm.  
  
Jack, still staring purposefully at the horizon grunted, "Aye, man!" in a powerful voice. He paused, and blinked slowly. His gaze shifted to Will, eyes gradually focusing. "Ah, William," he said vaguely.  
  
"Yes," Will said cautiously. "I feel I must apologize for the way I acted earlier. I was out of line. I sincerely apologize, and I give you my word it will never happen again. However I'll understand if you can't forgive me and don't want me on your crew."  
  
Jack stared at him long enough that Will thought perhaps he hadn't said enough and considered continuing the apology. Eventually Jack nodded slightly and said, "Yes. Quite. No worries."  
  
"You don't want to turn around?" Will asked, trying not to get his hopes up that Jack wouldn't reject him completely.  
  
Jack grinned a grin that made Will wonder just how mad he truly was. "No," he said, "we won't be turning around."  
  
His attention turned back to the sea, seeming to instantly forget Will's presence.  
  
***  
  
The next few days were torment. Will battled his conscience and his libido to the same extent. At times it seemed utterly ludicrous that he should even be torn about it—it was improper, and a sin, and most of all, it wasn't something Jack wanted any part of. He had made that clear enough. Why risk such a precious friendship for a few moments of physical pleasure?  
  
Other times logic seemed to fade away in the face of cocky golden smirks and a strut as fluid as water. What did it matter, being improper? He was a pirate. If his passions didn't care what proper society approved of, why should he? But even when the other apprehensions fled, the one always remained. No matter what, he couldn't risk falling from Jack's favor. If Jack wasn't interested in him, he would do his best to act as if he were equally uninterested.  
  
Jack, however, was hardly making Will's task any easy one. He acted exactly as if nothing had happened. It was a bit of a relief that Will's rash actions hadn't damaged Jack's behavior toward him, but it was also a bane. Jack commenced with his ludicrous amounts of physical contact, outrageous innuendos which, upon closer inspection, could have been meant innocently enough, and just generally being the embodiment of temptation. At times it went so far that Will even wondered whether he had made mistake, that Jack did want him, but then he remembered the sight of Jack after Will had tried to kiss him, backing away, eyes endlessly regretful. No. Will didn't think he could handle seeing that again—/causing/ that again—without his heart breaking.  
  
Eventually the times when Will doubted his desire lessened. It was a choice between accepting how he felt or driving himself mad trying to deny it. He chose to accept. He could hardly help how he felt, and he evidently couldn't avoid it. Even if a man desiring another man was totally unique to him, or more likely something simply not mentioned in polite society, he wasn't in polite society. Anyhow, none of that mattered. He couldn't act on anything as long as Jack wasn't willing.  
  
It was quite an experience, sailing Capitan Jack Sparrow, and a great challenge to Will's self control. Some moments more than others.  
  
***  
  
One night, after Jack had drunk more than enough wine for both of them, and Will had drunk just enough to feel warm and languid;  
  
Halfway through the song Jack stopped—or shifted rather, since he still seemed to be singing his words. "Com'on, mate, join! The entire crew must sing, and that's you and me, and you're not singing."  
  
Will felt outrageously content, lounging on the deck and listening to Jack's enthusiastic, if off-key crooning. It was an acquired taste, he supposed, and he had obviously acquired it. He shook his head, not wanting to ruin the moment.  
  
"You must," Jack insisted, straightening seriously, "it's the law."  
  
"Is it?" Will asked, playing along.  
  
"Oh, yes," Jack said. "It will be, anyhow. Once we get to Nassau I'll add it to the articles. Singing… and dancing, must be dancing as well."  
  
"Do you think the crew will agree to that?"  
  
"They will," Jack said confidently, leaving no room for argument. "Up, up, now," he said, standing and motioning for Will to do the same.  
  
"Why?" Will said, standing anyway.  
  
"Dancing," Jack said in an obvious tone.  
  
"I can't dance. Elizabeth tried to teach me once. She said I was hopeless."  
  
Jack waved a hand dismissively. "I've seen your footwork. It's just like blades without all the arm-swishing."  
  
Will didn't mention that everything Jack did involved 'arm swishing.'  
  
Jack moved to pull Will to him, trying to catch Will's hand in his own. Will backed up hastily. "No, honestly, I can't—" /I don't know what I'll do if you touch me./  
  
He was captured nonetheless, and gritted his teeth and held his breath while Jack pulled him close and slung and arm over his shoulder. "Now," Jack began, showing Will the steps, "we pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot…"  
  
It wasn't at all like the dances Elizabeth had tried to teach him. This was free, unrehearsed, just running and twirling and jumping as you please. Jack's scent filled the air, wild and dark and crisp, like fresh cut wood and new leather, and they danced until they didn't have the breath to sing along.  
  
***  
  
Mid-day:  
  
Will was practicing on the aft, trying to use what little space the ship afforded him for footwork. His habit of daily practice has become more of a ritual, something familiar that cleared his head, and he didn't ever feel his day was complete without it.  
  
Some time into the routine there was a loud 'ting' as his blade met another, and he very suddenly had a sparring partner. It felt perfectly natural to thrust and be blocked with fluid expertise, to dodge a slash that he had only seen coming at the very last moment. They were exquisitely matched, both skilled just enough to be a challenge to the other. It truly was like a dance, Will realized, though no dance that he had never seen before.  
  
Will overestimated a thrust slightly, Jack dodged, and whacked Will's passing backside with the flat of his blade.  
  
Will blushed crimson and straightened. "Jack!"  
  
Jack smiled beguilingly. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. It was such a perfect target."  
  
Will opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to figure out how to respond to that, or at least how to take it. Jack used to the distraction to attack again. Will nearly didn't get his sword up in time and they locked blades, pulled close together.  
  
Will suddenly really, really didn't want to play anymore. Jack was grasping his forearm firmly, looming over him, and all Will could think about was knocking him to the floor and tasting every inch of his skin. He wanted to inhale that wild scent until he could never smell anything else, burry his nose in that untamed hair, feel bare skin rub against bare skin.  
  
"Surrender!" Jack growled, pressing closer.  
  
"I can't," Will breathed.  
  
"Course you can. It'll be easy."  
  
"That's what I'm afraid of."  
  
***  
  
One morning, as Will was waking:  
  
He opened his eyes to see Jack slumped carelessly over the wheel, staring at Will like he sometimes stared at the sea. It was perfectly lovely, starting his day with the vision of Jack staring fondly at him in the pre-dawn glow. He would like it to be closer is all. Much closer.   
  
Will had learned by now that Jack often went into trances while sailing, staring at the horizon but seeming not to see it. Any attempts to pull him out of it would be futile. At first Will thought Jack meant to stare at the horizon that morning, and had simply misplaced his eyes. It seemed quite plausible, considering it was Jack doing it. But when Will got up to do the morning's work, the gaze followed him ceaselessly. It was slightly disconcerting to be one the receiving end of that endless stare, but Will couldn't find it in himself to attempt to pull the captain back to his senses.  
  
Night:  
  
Jack was drinking. Not a new occurrence to say the least, but tonight something had driven him to carefully unseal the bottle rather than taking the entire neck off with one slice of the cutlass as he usually did. With no dangerous edges to avoid Jack was free to wrap full lips around the bottle's mouth and take long, pulling draughts. Will couldn't help but stare. Head thrown back, eyes closed serenely, beautiful neck visibly working to swallow. What Will wouldn't get to have that kind attention. He wanted nothing more than to nock the bottle from Jack's lips and take its place, tasting wine flavored lips, pouring everything he had down that perfect throat.  
  
Jack lowered the bottle and looked to Will, breathing deeply from the prolonged drink, lips stained red from wine, eyes sparkling like anything.  
  
Oh, Lord.  
  
Jack passed him the bottle, never breaking eye contact, and Will drank.  
  
Night, again:  
  
Will was very drunk, and Jack was… well, Jack. Will was beginning to form a theory that Jack didn't actually /get/ drunk, he simply became more thoroughly Jack the later the hour and coincidently happened to be drinking at the time.  
  
Jack was talking about… something. Will couldn't say what, because all the talking was distracting him. Jack's voice was far more interesting to listen to than his words, and anyhow, when Jack went on like he was then it was most likely something incredibly untrue. He had an arm draped over Will's shoulder, waving it about to illustrate various points. Will felt that odd content again, warm against the chill of the night, burrowed in the wild scent that was quickly becoming familiar and cherished. He let the purring voice wash over him while he watched the hand dance in front of his eyes. Entrancing.  
  
It was a beautiful hand. The most beautiful he'd ever seen, Will felt bold enough to decide. Sinewy and strong, calloused in different places than his own, able to make tentative, delicate gestures or wield a weapon with deadly strength. This hand wasn't as decorated as the other, its only adornment a plain gold ring with a black stone on his ring finger.  
  
There was something about that…  
  
"Jack," he said urgently, interrupting the epic tale.  
  
"Mmm?" Jack said, seeming undisturbed by the interruption.  
  
"Why are you married?" he said, reaching up to fiddle with the offending ring.  
  
Jack delicately lifted his arm up and around Will's head, bringing it down to rest in Will's lap. He stared at it for a moment then said, "That would be because I am not."  
  
"Oh. Good," Will said and leaned closer toward him, missing the solid weight around his shoulders. He picked up the hand now in his lap and began inspecting it closely. "Go on," he muttered, distracted.  
  
Jack started talking again, tone slightly warmer, rhythm more languid, and Will tuned out the words again. He stroked the hand delicately, noting countless tiny scars, the dirt-encrusted fingernails, the masterful slope of the palm. Will ran a finger down each of Jack's, memorizing the feel of Jack's rough hand against his own. He lingered at the base of the thumb, gently massaging the fleshy part there, tracing the heavy curved line. Lightly caressed over the palm, down to the wrist and—  
  
"William." Will froze. "You'd best be stopping that."  
  
Will quickly released Jack's hand and scrambled backward, putting distance between them.  
  
"Oh, god, Jack, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to—"  
  
"Calm down mate. No harm's been done."  
  
"No, honestly. I'm sorry. I'll never bother you again. I—I—I'll find another ship to sail with once we get to New Providence. I—" He tampered off, realizing that Jack was simply lounging there smirking at him. "I'm sorry," he said weakly.  
  
"Hardly the first time I've been propositioned by a pretty drunk sailor. First time I stopped it, a'course."  
  
Will flinched. So Jack was attracted to men. Just not him.  
  
Jack rolled his eyes. "Don't look that way, lad. I loathe regret is all, and seeing as you only see fit to initiate while considerably intoxicated, I have little faith in your moral soundness. Come morning you'll make a spectacle, get angst all over the deck... It'll be terrible to live with."  
  
Will felt hopeful for the first time in days. "You mean you only rejected me because you thought I would regret it later?"  
  
"That would be the look of it."  
  
Will grinned. Jack /did/ want him. It was fantastic. Marvelous!  
  
Jack raised his eyebrows and his arms at once. "Oh no no, don't look that way either. As I recall, you recently consumed a goodly amount of alcohol."  
  
"I'm sober enough to know what I want," Will said.  
  
"I'm certain you are, lad." He paused for a moment. "I have a plan. Proposition me again on the morrow and I shall grant your every heart's desire and more. If you do come to your senses, we shall forget this entire night and never speak of it again. Savvy?"  
  
Will nodded, thinking about the morning. His own Capitan Sparrow, ready and willing to… what was it? Grant his every desire. But the night was still relatively young… "What will we do until then?"  
  
Jack hoisted a bottle with reverent joy. 


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: In an attempt to put as little space between me, the rabid fans, and their slash, most of this week's author notes will be with the review responses. The one important thing I must mention here is that I said this chapter would be censored here. But I also said that I'd only censoring the bits with nekkid man-bits, and as it turns out, this chapter lacks them. So it is complete. Next chapter will most likely be an all-out smut-fest, so I may not post it here at all. It and all further smut will be located at this addy. http://adultfan.nexcess.net/aff/story.php?no=9930&PHPSESSID=8c5fc44f154c002e7a9b83a356863752  
  
***  
  
Will woke immediately, the conversation from the night before echoing in his head. Despite a slight hangover—he was quickly re-learning how to hold his alcohol—he felt /brilliant/. Jack did want him, and he would finally have what he had been wanting for over a year now, even if he hadn't realized it earlier.  
  
Anticipation had caused him to wake earlier than usual, so the sky was only just beginning to lighten when his eyes snapped open. Every morning before this one by the time Will woke, Jack was already up, anchor raised and well on their way. Today, the captain still lay sleeping. Feeling more pleased than he had in a long time, Will decided take the rare opportunity and study Jack without having to worry about justifying the scrutiny.  
  
Jack was sprawled out slovenly, lower half on the main deck, upper on the quarterdeck, fully clothed and dead to the world. Jack always seemed to sleep not only fully clothed—which, until this morning had been a great relief to Will—but fully armed as well. For a man with Jack's justifiable paranoia, that was heavily armed indeed. Will figured it couldn't be comfortable with all those weapons and twirled around in that position, but the sleeping Jack didn't seem to notice.  
  
They both had opted to sleep on deck each night, Will following Jack's example while Jack insisted that it was an 'impediment on hospitality' to sleep in another captain's quarters. It hadn't occurred to him to sleep in the crew's quarters. Of course it hadn't. The old ship's bunks were nearly as soft as the worn wooden deck anyhow, so Will didn't particularly mind.  
  
The sky lightened enough that Will could see quite clearly. He moved closer to Jack's sleeping form, careful not to wake him, sitting as close as he could without touching him. In Will's experience, most people looked innocent in their sleep. Jack did not. He didn't look anything, really. The normally expressive face looked like a blank canvas, waiting for an emotion to convey or feign. Will took in the nose, the dark-rimmed eyes, the sensuous mouth, and tried to figure what about them caused such unparallel desire in him. Separately, each was beautiful to be sure, but common enough. Men before him had that nose. Women, those eyes, and lined them with heavy colors just the same. Those lips—the finest feature—were exquisite, rare, but there were surely women, much desired, with that same natural pout. Meeting those features separately on the street, Will wouldn't give them a second glance. If he did happen to admire them, it was for aesthetic appreciation rather than for physical desire. Yet somehow, combined and coupled with the irrepressible personality, they were truly irresistible. Will knew he would happily walk to the end of the earth and one step beyond for them.  
  
And now he had permission to act out all of his desires. Jack had practically given him an invitation, albeit only after rejecting him a second time. And, Will realized, Jack had had justifiable worries and had shown a surprising amount of sensitivity for even considering them. However. It /was/ morning, and Will /was/ thinking quite clearly, and that meant…  
  
Will reached up tentatively—for all his bravado he still had little idea how to go about this, and little confidence in his own abilities—and gently brushed Jack's cheek with his fingertips.  
  
Suddenly the world shifted and he was flat on his back, a sword at his throat and an imposing figure looming over him. Jack frowned down at Will, looking slightly surprised.  
  
"Not wise," the pirate growled darkly. He kept his sword at Will's neck just long enough for Will to worry, but then grunted and put it up. His gaze shifted to the sun, just beginning to rise above the horizon, then back to Will. He sat again, legs stretched out in front of him aligned opposite Will's, just slightly brushing.   
  
Pleasantly, conversely, "What was it you wanted, then?"  
  
Will propped himself up with one arm, rubbing his neck with the other. He felt completely thrown off-kilter, which seemed a relatively common emotion when dealing with Jack. He figured he should stop being surprised by being surprised.   
  
"What do you recall about last night?" he asked cautiously, feeling less confident from the death threat. Jack had been drinking as well, after all. Perhaps /he/ had been the one that would have had regrets.  
  
Jack made a show of searching his memory. "Last night, laaast niiiight… was dark. Being night and all. Three bottles of bad wine, not that I'm complaining, long as it's booze, eh?" He smiled pleasantly. Will tried to smile back through crushing disappointment. Perhaps Jack had proposed the escape clause for himself rather than Will. "And," Jack continued, "if memory serves, a strapping young blacksmith attempted to copulate with my second favorite hand."  
  
Will, weary of the emotional whirlwind Jack had set him in, tried not to get his hopes up yet again. "So, last night… what you said…"  
  
"God's honest truth," Jack said.  
  
"Honestly? So you're not—that is—you want to?…"  
  
Jack smiled at him, quite amused. "My dear, I would be more than pleased to strip you of your innocence in the most pleasant way imaginable. However—"  
  
"/No/," Will said before he could stop himself. He simply wouldn't be able to bear being rejected once more for his own sake. "No! If you're going to reject me again for an honest reason, like you don't fancy me, /fine/. But if you're going to insist that I'll regret it eventually, I refuse to hear it. I /know/ what I want, and I promise you, the only possible regret I'll have is that we didn't get to it sooner!"  
  
Jack stared at him for a long moment, face pleasantly blank. Will felt overflowing with all the emotion he's been experiencing lately—lust and hurt and hope and anger, all blended together, waiting for Jack's reaction so one could overrun the others.  
  
Jack suddenly beamed at him. Joy surged up at the sight. "Alright, then," Jack said, shifting to trail fingers up Will's calf. "So glad that's been cleared up."  
  
With Jack's fingers tracing lines and whorls along Will's thinly dressed leg lust was clearly winning, but Will suddenly felt trepidatious. It was honestly happening, but he didn't really know what this sort of thing involved. Jack obviously did. He had as much experience as any man could in carnal acts, if his familiarity with women of ill repute was any indication. What if Will couldn't measure up? What if Jack saw there was no fun to be had in him, and threw him aside? Jack's fingers brushed a particularly sensitive spot on the underside of Will's knee, and Will's entire body jerked.  
  
Smiling, Jack began scaling Will's prone body, slowly crawling up until they were face to face. Will took a deep breath, surrounded on all sides, arms feeling nearly too weak to hold him up. Jack propped himself above Will on hands and knees, their lower halves apart but chests brushing, close enough to breathe each other's scents. Through it all Jack kept the smirk on his face, closely examining Will's own wide-eyed, awed expression.  
  
"You've never done this," Jack said into Will's slack mouth  
  
"Never," Will said earnestly.  
  
A short sounds, which could have been a laugh but sounded too joyous to seem at all cruel. "Wonderful," he said, and then pressed his lips to Will's.  
  
It stole Will's breath away, made his heart pound and all fears melt away in a press of moist lips and slightly rough beard. Jack sucked Will's lower lip gently, worried and nipped at it, and Will didn't think anything had ever felt so good. Trepidation faded completely, instinct took over. He couldn't help wrapping an arm around Jack's shoulders, pulling him down with him when one arm wasn't enough to hold both their weight. Jack released the captive lip, dipped his tongue into the panting mouth just long enough to sample the sweet taste there, and moved on to upper lip, which he gave the same skilled treatment. It made things low in Will's stomach clench; the gentle rhythmic suction, blunt teeth gently gnawing, followed closely by a slick tongue to sooth the damage. Will's tongue darted out, trying to taste Jack, and Jack took the opportunity to seize Will's mouth completely, plunge his tongue in and plunder to his heart's content. It was shocking how perfect it felt to be explored by a mouth as lithe in action as it was in words, slick tongue gracing over the roof of Will's mouth, licking the backs of his teeth, tasting like everything that was ever forbidden to him.  
  
On a whim Will pulled Jack's tongue further into his mouth and sucked gently, trying to imitate the natural rhythm that seemed to drive Jack. Jack moaned and went completely limp for a moment, thrusting the length of their bodies together. Pleased with the result, Will sucked more firmly and caressed Jack's tongue with his own.   
  
He moaned with genuine loss when his treat was taken from him  
  
Jack buried his face in Will's hair, laughing breathlessly. "Best not keep that up for much longer, love." He licked a long, slow line up Will's ear and blew on it, hot and cold in turns. Will moaned and arched delectably closer. "You're positive you've never done this before?"  
  
Before Will could gather enough sense to answer Jack placed a sucking kiss where jaw met neck, effectively stealing all conscious thought. Jack worked his way slowly down Will's neck, licking and nipping and sucking, and Will lost all sense of himself beyond the warm, pulling pleasure. He was moaning continuously now, making sounds that would have normally made him blush furiously, and was completely beyond caring. Jack's teeth graced over a spot that made Will's entire body tense, lightning coursing down his spine. Jack latched onto that spot, suckling mercilessly, biting hard enough to be nearly painful and wholly exquisite. Will felt lost, filled and filled until he could take no more. A sharp bite and a firm, smooth thrust of hips, and Will's world exploded, white behind clenched eyes, the world fading and pleasure sharpening to an unbearable point.   
  
It seemed an eternity before it receded, gradually deposited him back in his body. Despite being flat on his back Will was trembling violently, heart beating more rapidly than it had in years, somehow both hot and chilled at once. He felt weak, but incredibly stated… and, looking into Jack's smug expression, slightly embarrassed. His knowledge of these acts was rudimentary, but he was fairly certain that last bit was meant to happen… last. Judging from the hardness nestled against his belly, Jack was hardly finished.  
  
Will blushed.  
  
"Well," Jack said, clearly amused, "now I believe you've never done this before." 


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Okay, I kiiiinda hate myself right now for writing this, but I feel I must post it to stop the bags of flaming dog poo that keep appearing on my porch. This part /is/ cut for ff.net, but the entire graphic thing can be found at http://adultfan.nexcess.net/aff/story.php?no=9930 . As with before, more authors notes with the review responses.  
  
***  
  
"I'm sorry," Will said, cheeks burning.  
  
Jack sat up, moved to stand, and Will instantly panicked. He had done something unforgivable and Jack was disgusted, or thought him and unsatisfying lover, and would never touch him again…  
  
"Jack, I—"  
  
"No need to apologize, lad," Jack said lightly, swiftly shucking his coat and moving to unfasten belts. "You are young, and I am… /persuasive/. Be having fun again in no time. This part is very important the second time around is all."  
  
Will watched Jack deftly remove his own clothing. Oh. Well. If that was the case…  
  
He sat up hastily and swept his own shirt over his head. Jack's hands paused in removing his sash, their owner transfixed by the sight. Will blushed further under the gaze, suddenly self-conscious. He knew he was still pale from spending his days in the smithy, unlike Jack, so beautifully bronzed by the sun. He did have fair muscles, but he didn't believe he was anything to look at.   
  
Jack forgot himself for a moment when that beautiful torso was revealed. Lean, sculpted muscle, fair skin practically glowing in the morning light. Will looked at him coyly, eyes half-lidded, then looked away, pink rising in cheeks and lips. The thought that Will was innocent, untouched by another man, thrilled some wicked part of Jack—not that any part of him /wasn't/ wicked—and he wanted to devour that newly exposed skin, feast on pink nipples, trace those hard contours with his tongue. He did not pounce the boy, though, for fear of frightening him. And because he wasn't fully undressed yet. Mostly because he wasn't fully undressed yet.  
  
He fumbled again with his sash, normally graceful hands clumsy with haste. Vest and shirt were made short work of, thrown carelessly somewhere with the hope that they wouldn't be needed for days to come.  
  
For a moment Will battle conflicting instincts—to look away from the downright /lewd/ spectacle of a man clothed only in trousers, or to enjoy the incredibly provocative view. Sheer curiosity trumped all, though when Will realized… the beautiful tan flesh was marred by countless scars. Some were old, fully healed and fading, some so new they still had a shiny pink tint to them. Will had known a pirate's life was dangerous, but here was the proof before him that Jack was, many times over, incredibly lucky to be alive.  
  
Jack shifted slightly and said, "S'not polite to gawk."  
  
Will felt a wave of possessive anger in response to Jack's discomfort. How dare anyone hurt Jack? Will wanted to avenge every mark of Jack's body, return the pain tenfold.  
  
He stood suddenly, facing Jack, and demanded, "Who hurt you?"  
  
Jack shrugged impassively, said, "Who didn't," and flashed a brief, meaningless smile. Then his manner changed and he was his normal scheming self again. "No worries, though, I'm still alive and functioning, eh? And, as much as I do adore this attention, William, I'd rather prefer other manner of attentions at this time, savvy?"  
  
Before Will could respond Jack clasped him around the waist, bringing their naked chests together for the first time. It was such a shock, bare skin against bare skin, so much more intimate than normal touching. Will caught his breath and hugged Jack closer, reveling in the feel of their slick bodies against each other. Jack chuckled lowly and pulled Will in for another searing kiss. Will felt bold enough to venture into Jack's mouth, tasting his unique flavor, reminiscent of the drinks the man favored, but surely more alcoholic than any drink. Tongues battles for dominance, writhing slick against each other. When Jack sucked firmly on Will's tongue Will was nearly undone again. He could imagine so vividly her nearly felt it, Jack taking in other parts of him, giving it the same lavish suction The thought made him moan desperately, then pull away a moment later, terribly embarrassed by his own thoughts.  
  
Jack wasn't completely disappointed when Will pulled away, because it gave him a clear view of the boy looking thoroughly kiss, all creamy and pink in all the right places. Did Will know how adorable he looked when flustered? That half-lidded eyes and blushing cheeks were more enticing an expression than any whore ever wore? That it made him want to knock Will to the ground right then and take him savagely, without finesse or pleasantries, until both were too exhausted to move?  
  
No. Most likely not.  
  
"William," Jack said as seriously as he could in the face of such a delectable banquet. Best not to lose control and scare him away before the feast began. "I'm going to need you to do something for me. It may be quite difficult for you, but it /is/ imperative to these proceedings." Jack began snaking a hand between their bodies as he spoke, trying not to get side-tracked caressing sinfully hard, sweat-slicked muscles on his way to his goal. There would be plenty of time for more explorations later, Lady Luck willing, and she was certainly favoring him lately. He found his target, the lace of Will's trousers, and idly began caressing the skin just above it. Will's breath caught and his eyes darkened beautifully. "I'm going to need you to, for just a moment, if you would… not be a prude."  
  
Will nearly missed the request, distracted as he was by lithe fingertips trailing over parts he had never considered would be touched. So light, just barely brushing skin, disturbing the fine hair that grew there and making all the other hairs on Will's body stand on end. He knew what Jack wanted, and the thought of it both terrified and tantalized him. Staring into those lovely earnest eyes while fingers wove pure magic into his skin, the panic was far less than the pleasure.  
  
"I'm not a prude," he said as defiantly as he could.  
  
  
  
***  
  
Afterward, they lay tangled together on the deck, catching their breath and coming back to themselves. Will struggled to remember who he was. Some part of him—a small par that seemed so far away now—felt he should feel more ashamed of what he had just done. But, feeling warm and content, utterly exhausted, limbs tangled hopelessly with Jack's, he couldn't bring himself to. He felt marvelous. When he ventured to open his eyes, the sight that greeted him made his heart clench pleasantly. Jack's face, so close to his, looking completely content. His eyes were closed, breathing shallow, a lazy smile of beautiful lips. Will couldn't resist leaning forward fractionally to meet them again, an innocent and languid kiss.  
  
Jack's eyes snapped over.  
  
He blinked.  
  
He grinned wickedly, rolled on top of Will, and ravaged his mouth, possessive and carnal and raw, leaving Will once again out of breath and quivering with renewed want. When he was finally let up for air Jack sat up again, making himself comfortable straddling Will's stomach.   
  
"Ready to make way, then?" 


	11. Responces

Here's the skinny: I feel wretched when I don't respond to everyone's review, but I loathe to see scads of review responses when I'm just tryin' to a read fic, so responses will hereafter be on this page. This page will always be the last page, and I'll be deleting the responses after three updates. (Meaning if you review, say, chapter six, I'll respond when I post chapter seven, and delete the response when I post chapter ten.) It sounds confusing, and I'm probably overcomplicating it, but… um. I have no defense. Nevermind. Just go with it.  
  
***  
  
Chapter 10 A/N: If this chapter seems at all out of places to people, it's because it switched POVs rather than being steadily Will's throughout. Hopefully it's not too hard to follow. Normally I'm vehemently against writing from Jack's POV, or switching in the middle of a story, but this wouldn't be written any other way. It was probably go back to strictly Will's from now on.   
  
That said... um... I could make up excuses for how sucky this chapter is, and why it took so long, but I hate excuses. I could also say I'm sorry for it, but if I were honeslty sorry I would have either A) posted the REALLY bad version earlier, or B) re-wrote it again and made everyone wait longer. Be happy. With any luck next chapter will happen sooner, and be less horrible.  
  
***  
  
Chapter 9 responces  
  
Toria: Thank you ^_^  
  
Gabriel Malone: It honestly was my first sex scene… and now I feel like a porn star claiming to be a virgin. Okay, I never wrote one before, but I did do a /lot/ of… umm. Research. Yeeesssss. Glad you liked it, and continue to like it ^_^  
  
Ankhsattva: Awww! That's so sweet! *hugs*  
  
Simbelmyrne: Yes, Jack definitely should have gotten Will. They have some much better chemistry. Glad you like the story ^_^  
  
madkornfan: Hehehe  
  
Elorapid: Irk! Now you've got me all worried about keeping up with expectation. Fret, fret, fret. Well, I hope I can continue to outdo myself. ^_^ Thank you very much.  
  
Salienne de Lioncourt: Oh! Lioncourt! Hehe, Vamp Chron was my first fandom, way back when… Merci beaucoup, glad you like the fic.  
  
kandra: I think I got the hang of it… this chap came a lot easier, and it was more. Um. Graphic. Heh ^_^ I will definitely keep writing. I think I mentioned it before, but there's actual /plot/ coming up soon. After the smut, and nestled in between the more smut. Not a lot of plot, and I don't know how it'll turn out yet, but… well, it's itching to be written ^_^  
  
Smiigel: Snork! I actually laughed out loud when I read that ^_^ With any luck you'll be drowning by the end of this chapter.  
  
sawdust monster: Thank you.  
  
Sasha18: You're very welcome! I hadn't noticed that, no… although come to think of it… they kinda were. Gagged him, too, didn't they? Yummy ^_^ Most of them were rather squick-worthy, but I think the First Mate had some real potential…   
  
Ibonekoen: Gasp! You're reading pirate smut while you should be working? I like the way you think! Thank you for reading.  
  
screamin-psiren: Delectable… that's a great word. Glad you like it!  
  
Dalas Ray: I could indeed write more ^_^ And I plan to, especially if there's chocolate involved. There might actually be a future scene with chocolate involved, but I make no promises.  
  
indiegal: We really need more naked pics of Mr. Depp and Mr. Bloom… I think Johnny would be up for it, he seems relatively open… what we'll need is a spy on the set of the next one (maybe Kiera Knightly would be willing?,) some oysters, candles, and a sturdy closet that locks from the outside. *nods wisely*  
  
JadeWerewolf: *bows* I shall continue, my dear! Would you care to share the origin of your name? I have an interest in were-animals, you see.   
  
SlashFanatic: Replace the coke with coffee and the popcorn with donuts, and I'm include to agree with you ^_^ Nothing better. So glad you like my fic.  
  
Chibi-Tomi: Mmm, Jack and whipped cream…  
  
Meggi: *grins* You're so cute! Thank you very much for liking my smut ^_^  
  
sunny-historian: Thank you.  
  
Edward IV: Oh, don't apologize for not reviewing a chapter. I'm so glad that you're reviewing at all. ^_^ It's really wonderful to get any sort of feedback.  
  
Stigmatized: slash-tastic! I love that word!  
  
indiegal: Aw, thank you ^_^ Wow, I'm a favorite… that's so nifty.  
  
princesskatt: I would do that, but I fear the sex narks of ff.net. I've seen some superb fics disappear completely because they were nc-17. With the editing I can still have the high traffic of ff.net, then everyone can go to aff.net to read the smutty bits. A good time will be had by all! Especially Jack and Will ^_^  
  
Fearuin: Irk! I'm a bad person for making everyone wait ^_^ Hopefully the next one won't take upwards of an entire week to write.  
  
KochanMikono: Oh, thanks for reminding me that there are people out there that don't like graphic sex scenes! I kinda forgot… heh. Hopefully my mad editing skills have left you satisfied without being squicked.  
  
***  
  
Chapter 8 responces  
  
Meggi: Hi again! ^_^ I said I'd give you am extra special response this time 'round… but I can't really think of what to say ^_^ How's this? *dips and kisses you* I adore you, dahling, your review was beautiful and you are moreso. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. *wink*  
  
Jasini: Okay! More now!  
  
Ankhsattva: Thank you so much! That's a great compliment, my Jack being more Jack than Jack… yes. That made sense, honestly it did. Anyhow, the way I see it, the film couldn't have taken place in a time frame longer than a week, and it was condensed to about two hours. There's got to be more to such an eccentric character than was shown. This entire fic is an attempt to examine what other quirks he may have and expand on the ones we already know about. And I'm getting far too writer-y, so I'm gonna shut up about this now.  
  
LadyBush: Hehe… I got to that place, and I realized I had no idea what Jack had on that hand, so I looked at a bunch of pics. In one of them he had a ring on his ring finger! So I wondered, waaait, he's married? And the insane pirate in my head provided me with an answer… it's odd, though, because I keep seeing other pics with his rings on different fingers. I think they may have been changed throughout the film.  
  
madkornfan: Hey, I remember you! Once again, okay, I write more.  
  
Toria: He tells me all his secrets… don't worry, he always has a plan, and it /just/ /might/ /work/!  
  
Gabriel Malone: I like you. You're spiffy. Hopefully I can keep my hootage levels to your standards throughout the course of the actual sex ^_^  
  
KochanMikono: Glad you like it ^_^  
  
Smiigel: The propositioning comes in the morning! I know what you're gonna say at the end of the latest chapter… where's the rest?! Well, it's in the next chapter, and my dear, you'll need a bathtub to hold all the drool ^_^  
  
Padfoots-Pirate: And the chapter after that will be freaking awesomer!  
  
indiegal: Disney may respond to blackmail… what we need to do, see, is get a bunch of naked pictures of Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom together… and then… we need to keep them for ourselves. Screw Disney.  
  
Elorapid: I don't consider it driving you mad… I consider it spreading the wealth ^_^ Glad you like it.  
  
kandra: Um. Yeeessss. Respect. That's it, yeah. The hand scene is thanks to Don Juan DeMarco. I saw it for the first time the other day, and there's this closeup of Johnny's hands putting on gloves… that man has the sexiest hands in Christendom. Thank you so much for being patient with the sex scenes, and thank you for the advice as well. I'm not sure if this qualifies as erotic or porn, but I think it's going to fluctuate between the two. Virgins are fun.  
  
Sasha18: Thank you ^_^  
  
Renegade Seraph: Will's a fool, he doesn't need bravery. (That's not me talking, BTW, that's Jack. I think Will's brave and too head-strong for his own good.)  
  
***  
  
Chapter 7 responces  
  
Toria: Okay, updation now!  
  
madkornfan: Updation /and/ more now, then!  
  
FusciaDoorsKick: Thank you ^_^ I am working on the essay, and I will try to post it on ff.net, but I'm not sure if they allow essays here. No matter what, I /will/ post a link to it when it's finished.  
  
sunny-historian: I'm very glad you like it! Jack is indeed very swishy ^_^  
  
Smiigel: OMG, you paused LotR to read /my/ story? I'm so flattered! *glomps back*  
  
indiegal: They are an obvious couple. Now if only we can convince Disney of that for the next film.  
  
Gabriel Malone: I'm not sure of exact miles, but Nassau is about three times as far from Port Royal as Tortuga is. As far as I could tell from the film, Port Royal to Tortuga takes a day or two on a fast ship, so staying with film cannon I'm saying about eight days. As for the marathon sex… well, we've got a prelude of marathon sexual tension at least. There will defiantly be lots of sex next chapter, and maybe lots more after that. I won't be sure until I write it. I think I really like that word. Sex. It's such a passionate word, nearly hateful with all the hissing sounds and sharp k sound on the x, but somehow still soft, and… I really need to lay off the practical Shakespeare. Irk.  
  
Elorapid: Mawhaha! Glad you liked it ^_^  
  
Padfoots-Pirate: I really hope you don't mind, but I read your review right before I wrote this chapter, so that vixen thing slipped in. Please don't sue me! ^_^ School is an awful thing, redeemed only because of all the boy/girl ogling. I'm working on getting my GED right now so I don't have to go back when it starts again here. Woot!  
  
kandra: It's all Will's fault. Honestly. It's good to hear you can't figure Jack out, that means I'm doing my job right ^_^  
  
Edward IV: Slash /is/ great… I've noticed this wonderful thing about the Pirates reviews… a good deal of them describe Jack or Will "slashing" each other. I think they meant with swords, but I'd like to think they meant with /swords/. Oh, that was a baaaad joke.  
  
Ankhsattva: Yes Mein Kapitan! *clicks heels* Glad you're enjoying it so much ^_^  
  
Meggi: I understand what you mean about slash happening quickly… it's like any relationship. Sudden monkey sex is fine a lot of the time, but the really satisfying stuff takes time to develop to its full potential. I really want to say more to your wonderful review, but I feel really rotten right now… tell you what. Next time I post I'll respond to this review again, more in-depth. I hope that's alright. 


End file.
